Strong on the Surface
by RayneSummer
Summary: -I'm Strong on the Surface, Not all the way Through. I've Never Been Perfect, But Neither Have You- Nate's hurt from Talbot and Sully just can't lose him after everything. They make it through and Elena's known for years how much her boys mean to each other, and to her. Set after u3


**Universe:** Uncharted

 **Characters/Themes:** Nate, Sully, Salim, Elena; hurt/comfort, friendship, family

 _Note: haha I suck but I wrote this today while at my grandma's here read it if you will. Also the ending is crap but nevermind I ran out of words._

* * *

Nate, Sully and Salim stared at the rapidly disappearing mythical Atlantis of the Sands, before turning around the beginning the weary trot home - or, well, to Salim's tribal camp.

On the way, the leader briefly outlined what had happened after he had lost track of the other two in the desert. "I led the rest of my men back to camp, as that was the safest to do. Then I alone came back again. From what I had seen already, I refused to believe you two had perished," he explained with touching faith.

Sully nodded gratefully. "You definitely saved us back there. We woulda just gone down with it if you hadn't shown up." He glanced at Nate, who had been unusually quiet on the ride so far, other than commenting on the few coins Sully had managed to get.

The kid certainly looked tired. Exhausted, really, and beat down - that was at least a generous summary. Sully grimaced to himself as he thought of what Nate had actually gone through in even just the past few days. From what he'd gathered, the kid had fought off Talbot's drug eventually, ignored Marlowe's manipulation, and gone almost to the friggin' ends of the earth to get Sully back and save him from the convoy.

That alone astounded the older man.. He knew, of course, Nate was fiercely loyal to friends, and in turn Sully had known for years that he would do practically anything to save Nate. That was made clear this time around in Syria alone, by Sully's straightforward willingness to shoot Cutter down in order to stop him killing Nate.

But the fact that the kid had, without hesitating, fought his way through pirates and the sea itself, to get on a plane, leaving Elena, and trek for days in the goddamn desert, all clinging to the faint hope that he could get his mentor, best friend, _father_ , for god's sake, back to him. And he had succeeded.

At least, for a while. Sully had little idea of what the hell Nate went through afterwards, while hallucinating from the contaminated water; all he knew was that the kid apparently saw Marlowe and Talbot shoot and kill Sully, and then had ran off after them, wracked with grief and anger.

Even when Sully had found Nate again, he had taken a little while to come back to himself, attempt to shake it off, and refocus on the mission in front of them. But he did, because he was Nathan Drake, and he needed to finish it.

All in all, thought Sully with another concerned look at his kid, he didn't really know how Nate was still going at the moment.

The three travelers passed the tiring journey in mostly silence, too weary to talk as the horses trotted on. When Salim's camp finally came into view, the Sheikh sighed and broke his horse into a swift lope, followed by Sully and Nate, all three relieved that their ride was eventually over.

They arrived at the camp and Salim immediately slipped off his horse and greeted his tribe in Arabic, gesturing out at the darkening desert, presumably explaining briefly their journey from Iram.

Sully got off his horse too - a little less gracefully - and glanced around the camp in interest while he waited for Nate.

However, the third member of their little party was nearly finished. Nate took a deep breath as the horse came to a halt behind the other two, and willed himself to move. He forced one leg over so he could slip off like the others had. But he fell rather than jumped, and the impact alone jarred him enough to white out his vision, and he desperately tried to grab something to stop him from falling into a void of nothingness.

Someone took hold of his arm and held him close, supporting him as he fell on the sand, struggling to hold onto consciousness a little longer.

"Hey, hey, easy, kid. Come here," Sully murmured, moving Nate a little to lean heavily on him. He had spun around at the sound of Nate hitting the floor, and had immediately grabbed the kid to stop him hurting himself more by collapsing. Instead, Sully had gently supported and guided Nate to the ground as he finally dropped in exhaustion.

Now he could feel the kid trying to stay conscious as weariness won out. Sully shifted Nate a little and wondered vaguely if it was worth keeping him awake for a minute longer and taking him over to a bed or something. But as Sully considered this, Nate twisted away from his grasp with a hiss of pain.

Concerned, Sully tried to stop the kid hitting his head on the ground in his semi-conscious state - that wouldn't help at all - as he struggled weakly in pain.

As he reached for Nate again, he noticed that his hands were coated in blood. Not his, but Nate's. "Goddammit, kid," he cursed, and forcefully grabbed the kid this time, trying to ignore the gasps of pain, and held him close.

"Where you hurt?" Sully asked worriedly. The pain had snapped Nate back into awareness and he automatically tried to get up; Sully got to his own feet before helping Nate up with him.

He cringed in pain as he straightened up and again leaned heavily on his mentor to support him. "Um, he got me on the shoulder... and stomach... everything aches," Nate murmured, exhausted, and close to passing out properly.

Salim strode over, regarding them in concern. "Is he hurt?" Sully nodded grimly.

"Talbot got him with a knife," he replied. It occurred to him that Salim wouldn't know who Talbot was, but that was the least of their worries right now. The Sheikh didn't ask questions; just gestured to the nearest tent and led Sully over, helping him ease Nate down on his side on a small bed there.

Sully gave Salim a nod of thanks and the leader withdrew. He sighed and looked down at Nate. "C'mon son. You got this far, I'll be damned if you're leaving me now," he muttered, more for his benefit than Nate's. The kid would be fine. He was strong.

Nate seemed to be fully unconscious now which, while unsurprising, was also very worrying. Sully knelt by the bed and gently pulled his top up to find what the bloodstained fabric was hiding. He winced; the knife had slashed a fine line across the kid's skin, deep enough at the start to still be trickling blood even now, and trailed off into a barely bloodied scratch.

"Jesus, kid," Sully muttered, glancing up in concern, and some degree of frustration. "When were you gonna point this out?" He didn't bother to wait for a not-forthcoming answer; he turned around to ask for water or something to patch Nate up, and found Salim standing behind him with a cloth and a jug of water.

Nodding his sincere thanks, Sully took the items from Salim and set them down. He soaked the cloth in the water and as gently as he could, rubbed the drying blood from the wound so he could examine it properly and assess the damage. Thankfully, Nate had been lucky; the cut was barely deep enough to start bleeding again in earnest once cleaned.

Sully swore under his breath and swiftly cleaned the cloth, soaking it again, and pressed it on the wound, making Nate hiss in pain even in his barely conscious state and try to curl in on himself to cradle the stinging wound. Sully stopped him and instead took Nate's hand and pressed it against the cloth pressing down.

"Nate?" The kid's eyes remained closed, breathing shallowly, his face too pale. " _Nate_ ," Sully repeated louder in sudden fear. He needed the kid conscious for a moment more. He needed to know Nate was going to be okay.

He mumbled something but cracked open his eyes, looking hazy. Sully sighed in relief and indicated the cloth on the wound. "Put pressure on that. I'll be right back," he promised.

A half-nod was all he got in reply, but it would have to be enough. He got up and gave the kid one last worried look before hurrying off to talk to Salim. He needed to get his kid patched up and back to Yemen. And then do some more patching up of a different kind, and for that he needed Elena.

* * *

Sully sighed in content and glanced behind him. In the back of the plane, Nate was out cold, laying half on Elena, who vaguely watched out of the window. After a second she caught Sully's eye and smiled at him before glancing down at Nate.

"He'll be alright," she said quietly as Sully turned back around to face the sky.

He cleared his throat a little self-consciously. Apparently his concern for the kid was clear in his gaze, and to be honest, he didn't mind that much any more. He'd told Nate what he meant to him.

"I know," he replied eventually with a sigh. "But, goddammit, I almost lost him. So many times."

Elena nodded in understanding, and sighed too. He glanced around again to see her gently stroke Nate's hair. "I know," she murmured, repeating him. "So did I."

They both both silent after that. Up in the sky, with no one else around, it felt detached from the world, from danger and death. All that truly existed up here was the three of them; the little family they had crafted themselves. It was broke and complicated, and there were going to be many arguments and talks and conversations to plaster the cracks that had widened to chasms in the last year.

But in the end, though they were all scarred, they had each other. And maybe, he thought as he took one last look back; Elena had leaned her head against the window and closed he eyes, one hand holding Nate's, the other circled around him, as if she didn't ever want to let him go again.

Yeah... Sully thought, turning back to the promising sky. Maybe they would be enough this time. And none of them will have to go days thinking they're all alone again.


End file.
